1. USING YOUR HOUSE
for INCOME IN RETIREMENT
It’s something Americans increasingly need to consider.
And increasingly need to do.
A retirement
PLANNING GUIDE

2. “h”ijce“
A retirement PLANNING GUIDE
By Steven Sass,
Alicia H. Munnell and
Andrew Eschtruth
Art direction
and design by
Ronn Campisi, Ronn Campisi Design
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
aims to help
Americans make
smart financial
decisions
throughout
their lives.
SEPTEMBER 2014

3. 1
Your House in Retirement
2
Your house is your home
4
How retirees use their house today
Option 1: Downsize
6
What can downsizing do?
8
Is a less expensive house better?
Option 2: Reverse Mortgage
10
What can a reverse mortgage do?
12
How much can you get?
14
Is a reverse mortgage right for you?
Consider Your Options
16
Two options compared
18
Using your house in retirement
20
Explanations
Your house is likely your largest store of wealth.
If you need more income, it’s the logical place to look.
CONTENTS
It’s mainly used as a reserve or bequest. It could also be used for income.
How much you could get as a lump sum, line of credit, or monthly payments.
It could be better suited to your life in retirement.
USING YOUR HOUSE
for INCOME IN RETIREMENT

4. 2
5YOUR HOUSE IN RETIREMENT
Your house is
your home
It’s where you feel most comfortable, spend the most time, develop friendships, and build community.

5. 3
It’s also a large store of wealth
AUTHORS’ CALCULATIONS FROM THE 2010 WAVE OF THE HEALTH AND RETIREMENT STUDY.
Home equity — the value of your house less any
mortgage — is your largest store of wealth
Median home equity and financial assets, two-person households
Housing is often your biggest single expense
Distribution of expenditures, retired couples age 65-74
Everything else
Food, clothing,
transportation
Housing (utilities, taxes, upkeep, etc.)
Medical expenses
$125,000
$150,000
$115,000
$160,000
$100,000
$150,000
Age 65-74
Age 75-84
Age 85+
• Financial Assets / • Home Equity
30+10+35+25
25%
30%
10%
35%
If you’re like most retirees
It’s also where lots of income goes

6. 4
How retirees use
their house today
Owning your home lets you live rent-free, with no landlord who could raise your rent or ask you to move.
HOME EQUITY, the portion of the house you own, is also used as:
A reserve, mainly for health-related costs down the road.
HEALTH EXPENSES rise with age and many will spend time in a nursing home, which is very expensive and NOT covered by Medicare.
SOCIAL SECURITY and other continuing income will cover part of the cost. But savings, insurance, Medicaid — or home equity — must cover the rest.1
A bequest, left to children or charity.
5YOUR HOUSE IN RETIREMENT

7. 5
Two
ways to
use your
house
Many more retirees will need to use their
house to boost their income.
That’s because traditional sources
provide less than they did in the past.
% Social Security now replaces a
smaller share of what you earned
while working.2
% 401(k)s typically provide less income
than the employer pensions they
replaced, and the income they
provide is less secure.
You can also use your house for income
1
Downsize to a
less expensive
house
2
Take out a
reverse
mortgage

8. 6
5OPTION 1: DOWNSIZE
What can
downsizing do?
Downsizing — which means moving to a less expensive house, not just a smaller house — increases your income in two ways. It can:
ADD TO YOUR SAVINGS & INCOME FROM SAVINGS. The difference in house prices, after selling and moving costs that typically run about 10% of the value of your house, adds to your savings.3 If you add $75,000, as in the example on the opposite page, you can:
• INVEST THE PROCEEDS and draw out about $3,000 a year, rising in line with prices for the rest of your life.4
• DELAY STARTING SOCIAL SECURITY, up to age 70, and increase your income about $4,500 a year, also rising in line with prices for the rest of your life.5
CUT YOUR EXPENSES & FREE UP INCOME. Downsizing can free up income needed to pay taxes, insurance, upkeep, and utility bills, which typically run about 3.25% of the value of a house.6
“h”ijce“

9. 7
If you downsize from a $250,000 house
To a house that costs $150,000, you’d:
Add to your savings & income from savings
Difference in house prices $100,000
Selling & moving costs - $25,000
Added to savings $75,000
Increase in yearly income (4% of $75,000) $3,000
Cut your expenses & free up income used to pay those expenses
Current expenses (3.25% of $250,000) $8,125
New expenses (3.25% of $150,000) - 4,875
Yearly Income freed up (3.25% OF $100,000) $3,250
ê online To see what downsizing could do for
you, use our calculator: http://squaredaway.bc.edu/
calculators/move-or-stay-put
You’d
have
$6,250
more each
year

10. 8
Is a less expensive
house better?
It can be, if your current house is suited to an earlier stage in life — with more stairs and rooms than you need, in a neighborhood with schools and playgrounds you no longer use, near where you no longer work.
DOWNSIZING COULD GIVE YOU a house more suited to a life in retirement.
• THE RIGHT NUMBER OF ROOMS and a layout you could live in as you age.
• A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT OFFERS:
e Things you enjoy — whether it’s nature, family, or coffee shops.
e Easy access to things you need — shopping, entertainment,
and medical care.
5OPTION 1: DOWNSIZE

11. 9
If downsizing makes sense, don’t wait
Moving becomes
more difficult with
age, both physically
and socially.
The sooner you
downsize, the sooner
you increase your
income and cut
your expenses.
If you put it off to
tomorrow, when
tomorrow comes
you’ll likely put
it off again.
Yes, moving is difficult and time-consuming.
It means leaving memories
and the comforts of home. But if
downsizing makes sense, the sooner you
move the better.

12. 10
5OPTION 2: REVERSE MORTGAGE
What can a reverse mortgage do?
A reverse mortgage lets you stay in your house and tap the equity in your home to pay for your needs in retirement. Here’s a quick primer:
A reverse mortgage is a mortgage — a loan backed by your house as collateral.
You must be 62 or older to get a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) loan — and essentially all reverse mortgages today are HECM loans.
You only need to repay what you owe when you move, sell your house, or die.
• YOU CAN STAY IN YOUR HOUSE without making any loan payments.
• WHAT YOU BORROW, plus interest, reduces the home equity you own.
• YOU WILL NEVER OWE MORE than what your house is worth.
The money you get is a loan,
so it’s tax-free.
• IT DOES NOT AFFECT costs pegged to your “income,” such as Medicare premiums or how your Social Security benefits are taxed.
• IT DOES NOT AFFECT your eligibility for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income — if you spend what you get within a month.

13. 11
Ways to use a reverse mortgage
A line of credit7 that can be used as:
% A reserve to pay for rising or
unexpected expenses.
% A source of income for everyday
needs.8
A lump sum that can be used to:
% Pay off an existing mortgage, which
would cut your fixed expenses and
free up income for other uses.
% Modify your home so that you can
"age in place" more comfortably.
Monthly payments — either for life
or a set period of time:
% Payments for life are an income
you can’t outlive. These payments,
however, do NOT increase with
inflation. So they buy less as prices
rise.9
% Payments for a set period of time,
which can be used to delay claiming
Social Security and increase your
monthly Social Security benefits.
A reverse mortgage can provide:

14. 12
5OPTION 2: REVERSE MORTGAGE
How much
can you get?
It depends. You can get more:
• THE MORE VALUABLE YOUR HOUSE (up to $625,500).
• THE LOWER THE INTEREST RATE (you’ll owe less interest when the
loan is repaid, so your house will support a larger loan).
• THE OLDER YOU ARE (you’ll also owe less interest when the
loan is repaid, so your house will support a larger loan).
YOU MUST FIRST use the proceeds to pay off any existing mortgage. This eliminates monthly mortgage payments, but reduces what you’d otherwise get.
What you could get on a house worth $250,000, net of $8,250* in fees10
AGE
LUMP
SUM *
LINE OF
CREDIT *
LIFETIME YEARLY PAYMENTS
65
$127,000
$118,500
$8,600
70
$133,000
$125,500
$9,500
75
$139,000
$132,500
$10,700
* In the first year you can only draw 60% of the gross amount (what you get + fees) unless you need to draw out more to pay off a mortgage or make required repairs. But if you draw more than 60%, your mortgage insurance fee at closing rises from 0.5% to 2.5%, adding $5,000 in fees and reducing what you’d get, net of fees, in this example.

15. 13
Fees on a HECM reverse mortgage include:
% Ordinary mortgage fees — an appraisal, legal fees, and the like.
% Origination Fee — to cover lender expenses.11
% Mortgage Insurance — to insure that you get all promised payments and that the
bank is repaid, even if the value of your house, when sold, is less than what you owe.
• 0.5% of the house value at closing (but see the note on the opposite page).
• Plus 1.25% added to the interest rate.
% Service Fee — to cover projected servicing costs — now often waived.
While fees vary by lender, reasonable estimates on a
house worth $250,000 are:
Ordinary
fees Origination Mortgage
Insurance TOTAL % of house
value
$2,500 $4,500 $1,250 $8,250 3.3%
Fees explained
Fees are a larger % of
a less expensive home
and a lower % of a more
expensive home.

16. 14
5OPTION 2: REVERSE MORTGAGE
Is a reverse mortgage right for you?
A reverse mortgage could be right if:
• YOU WILL STAY IN YOUR HOUSE for the rest of your life.
• YOU WON’T NEED THE EQUITY for nursing home care or bequests.12
• YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE ARE BOTH AGE 62 or older and can be
borrowers on the loan. As the house does not need to be sold until
all borrowers die, the survivor will NOT be forced to move.
• YOU’LL BE ABLE TO PAY TAXES AND INSURANCE. If you can’t, you
probably can’t get a HECM loan. If you get a loan but don't pay
taxes or insurance, you’ll be in default and could LOSE your home.

17. 15
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development website has more
information, a calculator, and contact
information for approved housing
counselors.
You MUST meet with a government-approved
counselor to apply for a HECM
loan. To benefit from the meeting, make
sure you understand:
% The costs, benefits, and risks of the
different types of reverse mortgages.
% Your alternatives, including
conventional home equity lines of
credit, which have lower fees and
interest rates and could be a better
option if you plan to repay the loan.
% How to avoid scammers targeting
the proceeds of the loan — typically
sellers of bogus, inappropriate, or
overpriced investments or home
improvements.
To see if it’s right
ê online http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/
program_offices/housing/sfh/hecm/hecmhome
c

18. 16
Two options
compared
If you’re 65 and own a $250,000 house:
OPTION
1
DOWNSIZE TO A $150, 000 HOUSE
YOU WILL:
• ADD about $6,250 to your
income, rising with prices.
• GIVE UP your current home, to live in a less expensive home.
• PAY about 10 percent of the value of your house.
• KEEP proceeds from the sale and equity in your new home.
OPTION
2
GET A REVERSE MORTGAGE
YOU WILL:
• ADD about $8,600 to your
income, not rising with prices.
• GIVE UP equity you can tap as a reserve or leave as a bequest.
• PAY about 3.3 percent of the
value of your house.
• KEEP living in your current home.
5CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS

19. 17
If you need more income and it makes sense to use your house to get it:
% Consider downsizing first. You want to be in the “right” home for retirement
as soon as you can. And it’s costly to downsize after taking a reverse
mortgage, as the fees and interest will reduce the equity you have in your
current home.
% Consider a reverse mortgage if you’re in the “right” home — to get more
income, pay off a mortgage, or secure a line of credit you can tap if need be.
Order counts!

20. 18
Using your house in retirement
Your house has many uses. It’s your home. It’s wealth you can use as a reserve or bequest. And it’s a potential source of income. How you use it depends on what you need and value.
5CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS

21. 19
Once you retire, you basically have what you have.
% To improve your finances, you can adjust how much you spend each month or
fiddle with how you invest your savings.
% Using your house, however, is generally the most powerful way to see that your
bills will be paid.
The keystone of your finances
You built up the
equity in your
home by paying
down the mortgage
and keeping your
house in good
repair. Now use it
to make your life in
retirement better.

22. 20
Explanations
5CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS
1. Nursing home costs average about $75,000 a year, though costs vary widely. You don’t need reserves to cover the cost if 1) you’ll be eligible for Medicaid, the government program that covers the cost for those with low income and assets — and your house is generally not counted if it remains your home or the home of your spouse; OR 2) you have long-term care insurance, which costs about $2,500 per person per year.
2. Social Security benefits replace less mainly due to the rise in the age you can claim “full benefits” and the increased employment of married women — which has raised pre-retirement household income far more than household Social Security benefits.
3. The proceeds are generally tax-free if you owned the home at least two years and the capital gain — the sales price less selling costs and the price you paid — is less than $500,000, or $250,000 if single. See IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home.
An illustration of selling and moving costs for a house that sells for $250,000:
Fix up house to sell
Commission (5%)
Moving
Fix-up new house
TOTAL
% of House Value
$2,500
$12,500
$5,000
$5,000
$25,000
10%
4. You can draw out 4%, rising in line with prices, from savings invested reasonably conservatively, with little chance you’ll run out of money,and with your savings likely rising somewhat less than prices.
5. While you delay, these savings provide the higher income you’ll get when you claim. See Steven Sass, “Should You Buy An Annuity from Social Security?” Center for Retirement Research Issue Brief 12-10.
6. Typical yearly expenses for a house worth $250,000:
Taxes
Insurance
Utilities
Upkeep
TOTAL
% of House Value
$3,125
$1,250
$1,250
$2,500
$8,125
3.25%
7. A reverse mortgage line of credit is typically much smaller than a conventional home equity line, with a higher interest rate and much higher up-front fees. But you don’t need to repay what you draw as long as you live in the house. The line also rises over time, whether you use it or not, by the interest rate charged on funds you could draw out.
8. See Gerald C. Wagner. 2013. “The 6 Percent Rule.” Journal of Financial Planning 26 (12): 46-54.
9. The lifetime payment option is not an annuity. The payments are loans and any home equity remaining after repaying these loans — when you move, die, or repay what you owe — belongs to you or your heirs.
10. Figures from the calculator on the U.S. Housing and Urban Development website, December 2013, at:
http://rmc.ibisreverse.com/default_nrmla.aspx. Note: You might not get more if you wait as the value of your house could fall, interest rates could rise, or the program could change.
11. Origination fees are capped at $2,500 on a house worth $125,000 or less; at 2% of the value of a house worth $125,000 to $200,000; and $4,000 plus 1% of the value over $200,000, with a cap of $6,000.
12. Note: A reverse mortgage line of credit can be held as a reserve for nursing home care. Current rules also limit how much you can draw, so a significant amount of home equity should generally be available for nursing home care or bequests down the road.

23. Downsizing or a reverse mortgage can
boost the income you’ll have for the rest
of your life to spend or save as you like.

24. Decision aids on our website
http://squaredaway.bc.edu/
http://squaredaway.bc.edu/topics/retirement
How to Get
Squared Away
in Retirement
Figure Out How to
Get Income from
Retirement Savings
Learn About
Behavior that Can
Ruin Retirement
Learn About
Using Your House
in Retirement
Figure Out
How Moving Changes
Your Finances
Learn About
Paying Off
the Mortgage
Learn About
Medical Expenses
in Retirement
Learn About
Strategies for
Older Workers
Learn About
Long-Term
Care